Moonlight Snowfall
by Tazaki4
Summary: A Hinata and Naruto one shot. Naruto was taken by the Akatsuki. Hinata can't come after him. How can a night so beautiful be so devoid of life? Why does the beauty seem to be empty? Naruto Uzumaki is gone. T for one slightly gruesome image.


AN: Ok, so once I said I didn't like one shots? Well I changed my mind after reading an amazing one. I need to find it and put it in my favorite stories part. I decided to give them all another shot and write a few when I am stumped in my main fics. Here is one that came into my mind. Kinda angsty, but not really. Enjoy.

Moonlight Snowfall

Hinata Hyuga, princess of the most powerful clan in Konoha, sat beneath an expansive tree watching the gate of Konoha. She hadn't moved for a day. She hadn't gotten up when it began to snow. She hadn't moved or responded to the sympathetic mummers of her friends that had stayed. Even as her sister, her favored and powerful sister, came by and placed a coat around her shoulders in a sign of compassion that had never been seen from her before, Hinata merely continued to watch the open gate. No one told her to come inside. No one told her that everything was going to be ok. Because even the Hokage knew that there was a good chance that everything was not going to go well at all…

Naruto had finally been taken. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame of the Mist Swordsmen had come in the night and had taken him without a fight. An indecent final battle for a worthy ninja. Worthy and so much more…

They had run off with an unconscious Naruto on their shoulders and had escaped without anyone knowing. It had only been the next day, when Naruto didn't arrive for a mission, that they found him gone. The perpetrators had left a scrap of black cloth with a red cloud on it, either on accident or as a warning not to come after them.

It was a message Konoha ignored.

Every able bodied ninja of chunin rank or higher was sent out from Konoha in a spread, hoping to find a trail. Apparently speed was more important then stealth to the Akatsuki, for the trail was found soon. But in the search…

Hinata stared angrily at her ankle that seemed to be swelled up to three times its correct size. She had been the one to find the path Itachi had taken, but in her rush to get back she had done an idiotic thing.

She had missed a jump and had broken her ankle. If that wasn't bad enough she had still had to run two miles back to Konoha before finding someone who could tell the Hokage the direction they had gone. In doing so she had made her small break become something that would keep her off her feet for weeks. It had only been a day. Now every last one of the ninjas her age were off trying to save Naruto before the Akatsuki removed the demon from him.

He had told her about his secret and the why the Akatsuki were after him after a failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke. Kabuto had let slip the information about Kyuubi when she and Naruto had been alone. She had told him that it didn't matter to her and that it merely added to her admiration for him. He still didn't understand that she loved him. And now… their chance might be gone.

The sun had set while she had been looking at the gate. The snow continued to fall, coating the trees above her with its white crystal beauty. But nothing about this night was beautiful to Hinata. Tsunade had not been able to leave Konoha due to her position, but now that the sun had set she found Hinata and sat next to her. They both stared in silence at the empty space that should have framed their loved one.

"Hinata… I… I don't know how long it is going to take and if you stay here until they return you will only be too weak to welcome them properly."  
Hinata didn't say a word.

"Hinata…"

"Hokage-sama. Will he be ok?"

Tsunade sighed. Hinata had asked her the same question when she had been informed that she wouldn't be allowed to go on the rescue mission due to her ankle. Tsunade had merely told her that she didn't know.

"Hinata… it's Naruto we're talking about. If anyone in the world can beat all odds and come back perfectly fine, it would be Naruto…"

"But will he?"

"… What would you do if he did?"

"I… I would tell him I love him. I would never let him go. I would run to him as he came through the gate and tend his wounds and hug him and kiss him. I would make him some ramen and then tuck him into a warm bed…"

"You sound like you love him as much as I do."

"I love him more."

Both women sat in silence. No one was on the streets at this hour of the night. Only a few street lamps shone on the sparkling snow, making the flakes shine like diamonds. Beautiful… but empty. _Like Hinata would be if Naruto didn't come back to her. She has only ever tried to become someone Naruto would pay attention to, but that dense baka… he didn't even see her admiration or strength for what it was. It was just an extension of her love for him._

Hinata wrapped her arms around her legs and shivered against a small night breeze that picked up. Snow flakes landed in her indigo hair and on her eyelashes. They melted as they touched her skin._ Everything good comes to an end… kami… don't let this one end before it begins.

* * *

_

A figure stood in the remains of the Akatsuki base. He stood amongst the ruins of a massive statue and between two dead or dying bodies. The black hair cascading down his back and over his white kimono hung limp over his shoulders. The sword he had used to end the life of a swordsman was still stuck in Kisame's skull. The other dead body… the one he had strived to kill for what seemed like ages… didn't have his front half of his body anymore. It had been burned off.

The figure held a third body in his arms. He walked slowly, blood dripping to the ground with his every breath, towards the exit. Towards the chakra signatures he had felt. Towards home.

* * *

Hinata and Tsunade were still sitting under the tree when the moon showed that it was midnight. A full moon tonight, only making the landscape look more and more like a surreal painting. Too beautiful to actually be real, too dark and empty to be beautiful… The only life that existed was the two women waiting for a sign. Waiting for anything to tell them that Naruto was going to be ok, that the rescue was successful, that Hinata's life would not end, that Tsunade would not lose her younger brother a second time, that there was a greater being out there who cared enough to grant two women with little hope their prayers intentions. 

Tsunade had her arm wrapped around Hinata's shoulder when she saw the dog. Pakkun, one of Kakashi's ninja hounds, was running towards the Hokage tower. He had almost gone unnoticed in the snow that was over six inches deep.

"Pakkun, over here!" Tsunade watched as the dog literally hopped through the snow to reach them. What would he say? Would he lift their hearts or break them?

"Tsunade-hime, pleasure to see you. I bring a message to you from Kakashi."

"Yes, what is it." Pakkun glanced at Hinata, who looked desperate to hear the information.

"It is for your ears only."

"No, Hinata will here it. Speak. NOW!" Tsunade was losing her patience.

"We found Naruto at the Akatsuki base and the rescue team will be here within the hour. Kakashi asked that you be informed to prepare for the immediate medical attention of Sasuke Uchiha, who apparently showed up before we arrived and killed the two Akatsuki there."

"What about Naruto?"

"I… I don't know. Kakashi sent me as soon as we saw the Uchiha walking out of the cave with Naruto in his arms."

"KUSO!" Tsunade had an urge to slam her fist into a tree. Pakkun saw this and immediately disappeared into smoke. He had delivered his message and was free to go. Tsunade got to her feet and ran off towards the hospital.

Hinata first thought she should follow and help, but she ruled it out. She didn't want to take care of Sasuke Uchiha. She wanted to see Naruto. She needed to know that he was alive. If he wasn't… what was there left for her.

"Naruto-kun… please be ok."

* * *

Pakkun had been incorrect in his estimate of when the team would arrive. The team ran through the gates of Konoha less then thirty minutes later. Hinata had to call to them to get them to stop. She hobbled over to them on crutches, only to watch as three of them, two with people on their backs, ran off towards the hospital. Neji hurried over to her. 

"Hinata-sama! What are you doing out here?"

"I… I was waiting for you all."

"You should be inside on a night like tonight! With you ankle and the cold…"

"Neji. Stop. How… how is… he…"

"Naruto? We… don't know. The only two people to have even touched him have been Sasuke and Kakashi. And neither has spoken a word since we started back. Well, Sasuke mainly because he was unconscious and being carried by Sakura."

"Please, Neji. Take me to the hospital."

"Hinata-sama, you need to get to bed…"

"NO! I WILL NOT SLEEP UNTIL I KNOW THAT NARUTO IS OK!"

The rest of the rookie nine looked at her with a mixture of understanding and pity. Neji nodded and picked her up in his arms. They were at the hospital in instants. Neji put her down and she hobbled down the hall way towards the room she felt the Hokage from. The rest of the team stayed in the waiting room.

Hinata walked to the open door to find Tsunade, Jiriya, Kakashi, and Sakura all around a pair of beds. Hinata couldn't see any of their faces because she was focused on only one. The face of Naruto Uzumaki. Paler and much thinner then it had been only a few days ago. And not a trace of life in it. Hinata couldn't see anything that would point to him being alive.

"N…Naruto-kun?" Hinata used her crutches to get next to his bed and was instantly down on her knees next to him.

"Hinata?"

"Tsunade, what is she doing here?"

"Shut up, Jiriya… She loves him…" Sakura nodded. She had known about Hinata's affections for Naruto since about a year into Naruto's training.

"Hokage-sama… is he…"

"Dead? No… Naruto is not dead. But he isn't alive either. He hasn't woken up and his vitals are at the lowest I've ever seen. He should be dead… but somehow his body is still running."

Hinata clenched her fists in Naruto's covers as tears began to form in her eyes and stream down her face.

"No… no, it's not fair. Naruto's going to be Hokage one day. Naruto's going to be the best ninja ever. I was going to tell him how much… how much I care for him!" Hinata was now crying into Naruto's barely rising chest. "I was going to tell him… how much… I love him… how much… I want to be with him forever. And he wouldn't need to be alone anymore! I… I…"

"H…Hinata?" Hinata's eyes went wide at the familiar voice. She currently had her head buried in the person's chest.

"N…Naruto-kun?" She quickly sat up and looked at his face. His eyes were barely open, but they were looking at her.

"Hinata… don't be sad. I'm not dead. And… maybe when I get out of here… I'll take you for some ramen." Naruto gave a weak smiled before closing his eyes again. His heart monitor had started pulsing at a normal rate. Hinata smiled at his sleeping face. He was ok. Everything was going to be fine. She bent down and did the unthinkable. She kissed Naruto on the lips. Then she fell asleep. Tsunade lifted her up and placed her next to Naruto. Sure, when they woke up they would probably kill her, but they would thank her in time.

If a person looked out the window that night, they would have seen beauty beyond compare. Moonlight on the fresh snow, diamonds sparkling in the blanket that covered the world silently. Where once it seemed empty, now it was full. Konoha was whole once more, and the smiles on the faces of the ninja returning to their homes made the snow gleam brighter then ever.

AN: Thanks for reading. I thought there were a lot of 'rain' fics, so I made a snow one. Hoped you liked it.

AN (2):This is the author again. I felt I should explain this story a little more. I like the snow. My best memory ever is of walking through a windless snow storm through the woods. If you have never tried it, find someplace that snow exists in, aka. Iowa, and take a walk. Take it with a loved one or alone and just think. End it off with some hot cocoa or coffee and sitting next to a Christmas Tree and a roaring fire... oh yeah. Heaven on earth, baby.

THAT is what encouraged me to write this fic. I love the beauty of snow, but even the most beautiful things pale in times of strife. So be happy and make beautiful things more beautiful.

Thanks for bothering to read.


End file.
